Pope Francis is Wrong About Luther and Justification
Things the pope says in an interview with the press are not Magisterial. I suppose I must clarify that before someone inevitably comes along to accuse me of contradicting my own words. I apologize, though, for being a bit late on this; the interview in question was in June. I checked my archives; God knows what I was doing at the time that made me miss this.
At any rate, in the interview the pope was asked about rehabilitating Martin Luther, or lifting his excommunication.
(Honestly, Luther’s been dead since 1546. What would lifting an excommunication even mean? Excommunications don’t continue beyond the grave. Where do they get these reporters?)
Here is part of what the pope said:
And today Lutherans and Catholics, Protestants, all of us agree on the doctrine of justification. On this point, which is very important, he did not err.
No, no, no. Now see, this infuriates me as an apologist (and former Protestant). It is one thing to have to correct this nonsense when it comes from …